Cheap Dyson, free advice, Eagles news, Really Romney?

So I left from work to head up to Fort Myers last night to pick up the used Dyson vacuum I spotted on Craigslist.  I had already performed the obligatory CL negotiation, offering $150 for the $175 listing which the seller accepted.

I was lucky that I had printed out back up directions from Google Maps.  The guys address evidently was so new that my 5 year old GPS had no idea where to go.

I arrived about 25 minutes earlier than I expected.  I called ahead and made sure he was home which he was.  As I pulled into his driveway he was just opening up the garage.

His garage was filled with a number of toys like a 270Z convertible, mountain bikes and a bad ass Suzuki fat tired motorcycle, that instantly made me feel like we had common ground.  However first and foremost he showed me the Dyson.

I was at first struck by the size of the DC24.  It was A LOT smaller than the Dyson Animal we have had for 5 or 6 years.  Hell I bet it is close to half the size.

The smaller brush bar meant more passes on the carpet but the smaller size also meant it was a lot lighter and easier to push around. This model also has the ball design which I really have come to like as it makes the vacuum super maneuverable.

The vacuum was in like new condition which didn’t surprise me as I looked around the garage.  All of his items looked to be very well maintained.  I told him I actually had a Dyson but gave it to my wife since we recently separated.  Well this opened up a long conversation where we found we connected in many ways.

Mike was 55 years old, single (divorced) and in addition to being into both 2 and 4 wheeled vehicles, he has competed in triathlons and distance running, including a half Iron Man and a full marathon.  In addition to the stuff in the garage he showed me his top of the line Trek tri bike.  The wheels alone cost a couple grand.  Yes obviously Mike has done quite well for himself.

He has turned his fitness focus to body building in recent years.  He looked great for his age, you would have never guessed he had over a decade on me.

Anyway we got involved in quite a lengthy conversation touching on all of our shared interests, something I certainly was not expecting.  Mike also talked about his relationship experience including what were some absolutely unbelievable successes despite his age. Let’s just say he keeps himself quite busy. He gave me various pointers that may come in handy down the line.

Anyway I bet we stood there and talked for more than a half hour.  We talked about perhaps getting together for a bike ride or a beer the next time he is down in the Naples area.  Well that certainly wasn’t how I expected that Craigslist transaction to go.

When I got home I put the Dyson to the test, making sure despite it’s smaller size it was still big on sucking power.  It worked quite well, pulling out the dog hair from the girls weekend visit with no problems at all.

So there were a couple Eagles news items that caught my eye, something that doesn’t happen much in April.  Brian Dawkins retired from the Broncos.  To be honest I thought he already had since I didn’t see him playing late last year when I watched a few Bronco games.  Evidently he had another serious neck injury last year that contributed to his decision.

Even though he finished out his career as a Bronco, he will always be the heart of the Eagles defense for most of the last decade.  I loved his aggressive style of play.  Even now when I think of Dawk laying it all out there to smash opposing ball carriers it makes the hair on my arms stand up a little bit.

Ironically the other piece of news is about a player who is as Anti-Dawkins as you can get, Asante “Shoulder Tackle” Samuels.  Evidently the Eagles have been actively trying to trade Asante but haven’t had much luck moving him and his fat contract.

Samuels came in here with much hype as a ballhawk and a guy that created turnovers.  To a degree, he has done that for the Eagles but not enough for me to declare him as being worth the money.  I really dislike his weak tackling.  I can’t tell you how many times in the past couple years I have screamed at the tv as Asante missed again and again at weak shoulder tackle attempts.  I will be totally fine if they dump him.  Get me a mean son of a bitch that hits like a truck over a ballerina with stick um on his hands any day.

So now, short of an unplanned demise, Mitt Romney is guaranteed to be THE republican nominee for president.  I am not quite sure how this came to be as Romney is the wrong guy in so many ways it just makes me scratch my head, a lot.

I mean in a time when there is such an uproar and spotlight about the 1 percenters courtesy of the Occupy folks, why would the elephants trot out a guy that is filthy, filthy rich?  On top of that, time and again during the campaign Mitt has stuck his foot in his mouth, obliviously blurting out one liners without realizing how condescending and out of touch they were to those less affluent than himself.

Not only is he richer than rich, if you dig into how he amassed much of his wealth, by devouring companies and spitting out their remains for profit without hesitation, it should give you some pause.

Oh did you hear, in one of Mitt’s homes, a 13 million dollar property, they just installed an elevator as part of an expansion project.  The elevator was for his CARS.  I shit you not.

Now of course you can’t entirely dismiss a guy just because a he made a few bucks.  I think Mitt has done a darn good job discrediting himself on policy decisions as well, backing away from his actual record to play the part of a fiscal conservative in the primary, morphing into the candidate he thinks others want him to be.

All of a sudden he has to make people believe he didn’t create the Massachusetts Health Care Law and that he didn’t have a moderate stance about abortion.

Then there is the Mormon thing.  I’m sorry, any religion that deals with magic underpants is just bizarre.  The hard core right wing Christian Fundamentalists that cast their vote primarily on how many time a candidate says the word “God” can not be pleased with the idea of a Mormon sitting in the White House either.

Hey I am not very happy with the way Obama has been passive on certain issues up until recently as the election season heats up, however if my only choice is Mitt or Obama, it is a no brainer.